June 30th cont'd Longboat Holiday in Wales Part 2

Just before arriving at LLangollen (don’t forget the pronunciation), we had to traverse two stretches of the canal that were single lane. One was 300 yards long, and the other was 500. Thank goodness we were able to follow two other boats since apparently, some people have to back up if they haven’t checked ahead. I am still not sure of the protocol, but we did get through to the marina. Once secured for the night we headed into town to another must-see pub/restaurant – The Corn Mill. After a delicious dinner and a couple of pints, we walked around to get an idea for the next day.July 1, 2008
Happy Canada Day. We really should have brought a Canadian Flag with us. But thanks for the emails to share the day. After another big breakfast, we decided to check off another item on our must-see list, which was a trip to Horse Shoe Pass. The pass is renown for its splendid views of the Welsh mountains, for which we climbed a bit higher to get the whole panorama. It was beautiful. After that it was a horse-drawn canal boat to see Horse Shoe Falls, then Dale stopped in at the Motor and Motorcycle Museum while I headed back to town. We lucked out again on our return pass through the one-way canals and stopped at the Bryn Howell Hotel for dinner. Apparently Harrison Ford had dinner there and spent the night, so it was on our must-see list. Unfortunately there was a bit of a staff shortage, and service was non-existent so we pressed on. Again, we were very impressed by the tunnels and aqueducts we re-visited; they really do take your breath away. The next stop was short of Chirk for the night.
July 2, 2008
Our plan this morning was to visit Chirk Castle, which was again on our must-see list. It was a couple of kilometers walk, but well worth the effort. Built in 1295 it is still intact with almost all of the furnishings left too – thanks to being taken over by the National Trust. We had a guided tour before it opened, then had lots of time to go back and really take in everything. The rest of the afternoon we just motored along with only two locks between us and our destination of Ellesmere.

A moment about the weather – all-in-all we have really lucked out. The few storms Dale could see coming, we tied up and waited out. It was never more than an hour wait. Then the sun came out and all was forgiven. Many people passed us driving through the rain, getting soaked to the skin, forgetting that they were on holidays and in no rush. Most of the time it was a mix of sun and cloud and around 17 degrees.July 3, 2008The big plan was – to spend the morning in Ellesmere to get to the must-smell Vermeulens Bakery for one of their famous cream cakes (and a few other things as well). A few hours later, I got to work it all off as we started with five lift bridges before the triple locks followed immediately by three more separate locks at Grindley Brook. But then I got to gain it all back at the Horse and Jockey pub with a great steak dinner and of course the requisite pint (half pint for me). Good thing we decided to spend the night there. P.S. Thanks for all the emails and good wishes too.
July 4, 2008
We had a leisurely morning – Dale had time to do his big breakfast again before we hit the internet café, which is when we posted the last blog. We also sat and watched other people run around and do the locks – it really is interesting to see. Back on the canal we did another three locks and three lift bridges to get back to Wrenbury (our starting point). However, since we still had another day, we carried on past Wrenbury just to check out the scenery. We did have to do the three Baddiley Locks, but there were more boats about, which actually reduces the work as you can leave the gate open at the end for the approaching boat(s). We also finally figured out a way to share the load ourselves. I opened the first gate for Dale, then he hopped off and I took a turn driving. Dale then closed the first gate and opened the second. I drove out, while he closed up and off we went. That worked very well, and we both got some exercise with the windlass. The evening approached and we parked next to yet another fine example of just how small this world really is. Noticing a Canadian flag on the boat next to us, we enquired to find that the people were in fact from Courtenay/Comox and Campbell River. They too hired from the same location on the same week. After a nice chat with our ‘neighbours’, we retired to watch a movie onboard for our last night on our floating home. We are now in position to return the boat in the morning and so will probably continue the blog when we get home.
Love,
Dale and Laurel